Property News

Australian House Prices Growing Faster This Year

The housing market warmed up further last week, despite the onset of winter.

The two major markets recorded solid gains over the week ending Sunday, according to the weekly report from CoreLogic.

Prices in Sydney were up by 0.7 per cent, while prices in Melbourne rose by 0.6 per cent.

The average for the five mainland state capitals was up by 0.5 per cent, despite a weaker gains of 0.4 per cent in Perth and 0.2 per cent in Brisbane/Gold Coast, and no change in Adelaide.

Despite regulatory moves to restrict the flow of loans to investors, and the possibility that access to tax deductions for negatively geared investment properties might be restricted after the election, price rises since the beginning of this year are outpacing gains seen over the same part of last year.

In Sydney, prices are up by 8.9 per cent over the year to date, compared with 8.6 per cent over the corresponding part of 2015.

Melbourne’s gain so far is 6.2 per cent, compared with 4.6 per cent this time last year, while Brisbane/Gold Coast is up by 2.1 per cent compared with 1.4 per cent, and Adelaide’s year-to-date increase is 3.8 per cent, versus 1.1 per cent 12 months ago.

Only Perth, hamstrung by the end of the mining investment boom, is down over 2016 so far, losing 3.8 per cent, its rate of decline only a little steeper than the 2.8 per cent fall over the matching part of 2015.

The five-city average came in at 5.6 per cent for the year to date, up from the year-to-date pace of 4.7 per cent this time in 2015.